Come on board and take part in our adventures while exploring the world at the slow pace of a sailing boat. We left in June 2009, heading south to escape the northern winter... to start with. Currently in Algarve/Portugal taking it one day at a time.

40 miles north to Hangö-Finland

09/03/2008

SW to W 15-25 knots of wind and grey skies. Yesterday, we were busy, cleaning out the mess in the boat, and obtaining some means of mental soundness after this whole process with the engine exchange and spending 4 weeks at a wharf here.

At last under sail again! The sailing was fine enough albeit a bit on the 'bumpy' side. Our sealegs were still quite up to the task though. Obviously hence there was a lot of swell att the wharf in Dirham, and winds in the 20 knot range most of the time.

Sadly enough another mishap occurred with the egnine today, the new one that is. Halfway out in the Bay of Finland I accidentally touched the lever of the remote control for the gear/throttle wires. And much to my agony, it seized in reverse.

The sea state was way to uncomfortable to take the cockpit floorboarrd out to get access to the Beast underway. We were frequently getting splashed in the cockpit too, so it would not hve been a good idea to open up.

Upon our arrival at Hangö, we had to discard the idea of entering the Guest Harbour or Marina. We anchored under sail at the leeward side of a ferry terminal where the chop was acceptable. Fortunately the anchor set right away, and kept us safe for the whole night. The wind increased to 25-30 knots during the night and stayed that strong during the entire day tomorrow too.

Before dinner I inspectted and disassembled the wire on the gear lever at the engine. It seemed OK. Then I got the idea to move the shaft and coupling and Eureka! 'clonk' and everything seemed to be back to normal.

A deep sigh....will I ever trust this engine, or more correctly, will I ever trust the installation?

I took the decision to have an experienced marine mechanic survey this whole installation sooner rather then later, maybe here in Hangö? This is said to be the largest pleasure craft port in Finland so we'll see tomorrow...

The picture is of a superb little gaff-rigged vessel we met outside Hangö

Not quite, but after spending more than 3 weeks here for an engine change, it feels almost like scoring in football, (soccer of course) :-D

Today, after so many setbacks I don't even want to talk about it, IT'S IN -....and it's working preoperly. They had quite a job to adjust the alllignment, the vibrations on the shaft was just incredible to start with. The problem seems to be that they don't have much experience, if any, in installing these kind of engines. Trial and error and one issue at a time has been the general principle for the work. Obviously I am not at all interested in paying for those hours spent on learning as opposed to installing, and I can see an 'interesting' discussion with this company coming up when I recieve the invoice.

The truth is, that my confidence has run so low with their competence, that I would like to have a Yanmar guy in Sweden or Finland to inspect this installation closely and give me a second opinion on the matter. This engine is so expensive and will hopefully serve us 26 years as did the old one so this is a matter to take to with a serious approach.

Enough of that, One of human beings main features is that we adapt easily, and maybe forget troubles easily too...

So now our focus has to switch back to sailing and cruising again.

August turned out to be pretty wet, i e rainy, albeit warm, so we hope for a crisp and sunny period in September to provide us with a happy ending of this voyage.

A couple of days ago I thought we could as well sail westward from here to the Stockholm archipelago (approx. 130 miles) and then slowly cruise southwards along the coast. Plans never work out as is well known, and right now the wind seem to turn from northerly to west and then southwest. This makes it more appealing to sail the 40 miles from here to Hangö in Fnland instead in a more or less N course, this is well within what could be done in a day.

We'll see, as always the wind decides.... that said, I am really looking forward to telling you someting from a new place again soon.

The story goes on. The engine was lowered into it's home under the cockpit sole yesterday, and some adjustmentst and allignment was done before darkness. As an added bonus we had some 25-30 knots of wind and heavy rainshowers to keep us in good mood.

There is somethng about this whole project that just don't work out for us. very little bit, every piece to install, or adjust refuse to cooperate, and time is slippng away here. When the engine was mounted and the coupling to the shaft tightened, it turned out that the lever for the gear couldn't move freely. It was so close to the hull. The wire for the gear also seemed too short!? This truely seems mysterious, since both engines are Yanmar 30 hp 3-cylinder and 'supposed' to be made to fit the bill...

In our darker moments, we are starting to wonder if we ever will leave this wharf again, maybe under sail...?

Waiting is something we had an opportunity to practice quite a bit lately. Last Friday, the 'metall partner' as Hendrik calls them, hadn't got any time to help us making new mounts. Then during the weekend nothin happens of course.

Yesterday, Tuesday, H calls me again,( could I detect a trace of embarrassment in his voice?) and apologizes for his 'metall partner' who now complains that this was a difficult task for him and he needed a little more time....

So we are still waiting here at the now so familiar wharf at Dirham Port, hoping to see him back sooner rather than later. At least he reassured us yesterday that all the other bits and pieces needed for the installation of the engine now was in the trunk of his car. We are praying for the car not to get stolen or....

Today is a public holday here in celebration of the 20th anniversary of th Estonian Independence independence from the Soviet Union.

This day is also known as the 'singing revolution' which certainly sounds like a less bloody albeit not nedessarily dramatic event than the Frrench revolution.

Lots of credit to Hendrik who choose to spend this holday breaking loose all the rusty nuts that attached the old engine to the interior of Röde Orm's abdominal region. Not only did he choose to do so, but in fact he even brought one of his friends to help us out with this task. Bep, who work as a technician on slot machines at one of the many casinos in Tallinn, turned out to be an uncrowned king of this trade. I baptized him 'Mr NutBuster' To keep him in good mood while he fought the badly corroded bolts in a strangely folde stance in the cramped area under the cockpit sole...

Of course new problems arose, and nothing is ever so simple and easy as we think, is it?

The steel parts, bolted to the engine bed, upon which the engine were mounted, were heavily corrroded aswell, so they had to come out. Not at all voluntarily I can assure you, corroded steel is, as everyone who fought it knows, extremely reluctant to let go.

Even when it's corroded to the point when the steel kind of falls of in layers, it is still rremarkably strong. Believe me in this, my knuckles carry some bloody trace of the truth in this statement.